


Talk Slow

by diamondgore



Category: New Teen Titans, Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: F/F, New Years Eve, Old Friends, Secret Crush, but hopefully some feelings are invoked, it doesn't get resolved, this was topical when i wrote it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22307083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondgore/pseuds/diamondgore
Summary: Relationships are limited by more than just the physical.
Relationships: Koriand'r/Donna Troy
Kudos: 11





	Talk Slow

**Author's Note:**

> Happy late holidays Jay!  
> I've only read New Teen Titans a long time ago, so I can't say my characterization was correct, but I still hope you like it!!  
> Stay warm this winter!

After the New Year’s Party, Koriand'r had decided to stay back and help Donna out with the cleaning. Donna had hosted the party under Dick’s supervision, as a surprise gift for Koriand'r , due to her mentioning once that she’d never been to one. Because of that, Koriand'r felt the need to help out. It was her hyperempathy that was making her do it, but also a need to spend some more time with Donna. She really couldn’t get her alone these days, and their schedules were becoming more and more conflicting once they were off of the Titans. 

There was also some sort of hominess in spending the time with your best friend in silence as they swept your apartment floor. Luckily, because the party had consisted of a maximum of twenty people, most of which had thrown out their own trash, the pick up of biohazard only took a few minutes to do, every now and again Donna and Koriand'r would exchange a few words, they were mostly jokes and jabs at which superhero would have chosen this drink over the other or which one would double dip in the cheese. 

Koriand'r picked up the ceramic plates, Donna didn’t believe in using plasticware due to her environmental bias. She wanted a better world, and so she had forced everyone, despite having their mind fogged by alcohol use, to use her normal everyday plates. Everyone here had superhuman reflexes, there wouldn’t be any ceramic bits on the floor. Koriand'r piled them up on the island counter in the middle of Donna’s apartment. 

Donna had began cleaning wiping down tables. Every few moments she would find her eyes glancing at Koriand'r, and her playful promenade as she cleaned up. Koriand'r didn’t notice, or at least feigned ignorance. She noticed that there was more than just a physical distance between them. There was a realization, that since the team had disbanded, they had become mere ghosts in each other’s lives. 

Maybe Koriand’r felt that too? Donna wouldn’t know unless she spoke up. 

Donna cleared her throat as Koriand’r put plates and cups in the sink. It caught Koriand’r’s attention and turned around when she spun on her heel when she heard Donna. 

“Would you like me to do the dishes as well, Donna dearest?” She hummed. 

Donn shook her head, as she wrung out the rag at a hand. 

“Then, what is it?”

“It’s such a shame.” Donna stated, she could always feel the pressure of the world on her shoulders, even as she was wiping down the dining table. She was still smooth in communicating with Koriand’r, but she was much more nervous confessing her failure as a friend. But perhaps the distance had made her heart go fonder for Koriand’r but she would never know to what extent if she kept her silence. “That I am busy all the time. We, the team used to have so much fun together on our days out, and now…”

“Just the team?” Koriand'r asked. She hadn’t expected Donna to bring up their emotional distance from each other. She would be lying if she said that she also hadn’t missed being with her team, but it was Donna, that occupied her thoughts. 

“Yes, with the team, but especially with you.”

Her heart tossed inside her chest. Koriand’r had known this feeling from before. It had been a while since it felt like a butterfly, against the back of her ribs. The last time she had felt it was in her younger years, there was no time for butterflies in her chest as a superhero. 

Donna put her rag on the table and then went to the shelf, to pick up a picture of her and Koriand’r when they were still teenagers. When age hadn’t caught up with them, and they were superheroes, but they hadn’t been defeated too often. It was a simpler happier time, but they wouldn’t change things. They wouldn’t regress as people for a childish happiness.

“Do you remember this?” Donna asked as she slipped Koriand’r the picture of the both of them. It was taken when they had gone on a picnic. Koriand’r could still feel the warm summer rays on her body. It was a hot and humid day, a few days after the team had just been founded. She remembered being slightly annoyed by her team members. That wasn’t how she felt now. “We used to be around each other all the time and now it just feels like everything is slipping away.” 

Koriand’r traced the picture fondly, with a smile on her face. “That’s the problem with time. It always feels like it’s slipping away, but I don’t think we should necessarily wish for everything to go back to what it used to be.” 

Donna raised an eyebrow. “But we’re—“

“Yes, we’re so much busier now, but now we can choose to make time for each other, and isn’t that better?” Koriand’r shook her head when the words came out. “I apologize, I wanted to this situation we’re in sound less horrible, but I do think choosing to be together is different than being forced to be together on a team.” 

Donna smiled at Koriand’r’s stumble with her words. It was always endearing how they both could never get their points across in simple terms. Koriand’r put the framed picture on the table and then took Donna’s hands into hers. Her bright green eyes were apologetic. 

“I never hated spending time with you—it wasn’t my intention to say that!” Koriand’r pleaded. “I just think there is a romanticism in us choosing to spend time with each other!”

Donna squeezed Koriand’r’s hands. “I never took it as an insult. I know translations are hard. I make mistakes with words too sometimes.” 

They were now both smiling at each other, in the kitchen. They didn’t want to move, afraid that it would somehow change the sincerity of the words they had exchanged, as if movement nullified them. 

“If you do want to spend more time with me, maybe we should push the cleaning to the morning, and we can have an impromptu sleepover like we used to. Without it being repeating the past, of course.” Donna said calmly as her throat dried up. 

Koriand’r eyes widened, those butterflies were still in her chest. “I would love to! It would be an honor, Donna!”

With a swift movement, Koriand’r pulled Donna into a hug and spun her in the air. They both laughed, both a little nervous about their future, but confident in their unspoken love for each other. 

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @[diamondgore](https://diamondgore.tumblr.com/) & on twitter @[sophiecuckoos](https://twitter.com/sophiecuckoos)!


End file.
